English 102 – JC Clapp
Questions for Thought and Discussion
Ways of Seeing, by John Berger, pgs. 7-34
Directions: The class will be divided into groups. Each group will be assigned a question to discuss and
then report back to the class. If you end up with more questions than answers, that’s okay! Everybody
in the group must contribute to the discussion. Find specific examples (quotes, places in the text) that
support your answers.
1.
Do you believe that, “We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice.” (8)? Why or
why not?
2.
Berger says that, “Although every image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or
appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing” (10). How are the ways you
see things affected by what you know or believe?
3.
Berger states, “When we ‘see’ a landscape, we situate ourselves in it. If we ‘saw’ the art of the
past, we would situate ourselves in history. When we are prevented from seeing it, we are being
deprived of the history which belongs to us” (11). What do you think Berger means when he
talks about “situating” yourself in history? How does the way you situate yourself affect
meaning?
4.
Berger claims that “If we can see the present clearly enough, we shall ask the right questions of
the past. Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a
different way” (16). What do you think are the “right” questions of the past? After reading
Berger, how do you view the definitions of “reality,” “history,” and “art”?
5.
What do you think Berger meant by “mystification” (16)?
6.
Berger claims that, “Now it hangs in a room by itself. The room is like a chapel. The drawing is
behind bullet-proof perspex. It has acquired a new kind of impressiveness. Not because of what
it shows – not because of the meaning of its image. It has become impressive, mysterious,
because of its market value.” Later, he goes on to say that, “When the art of the past ceases to be
viewed nostalgically, the works will cease to be holy relics” (23). What sense did you make of
this claim?
7.
Berger says that, “What the modern means of reproduction have done is to destroy the authority
of art and to remove it – or, rather, to remove its images which they reproduce – from any
preserve. For the first time ever, images of art have become ephemeral, ubiquitous,
insubstantial, available, valueless, free . . . They have entered the mainstream of life over which
they no longer, in themselves, have power” (32). Here Berger claims that reproductions change
and complicate the meaning of a piece of art. How did you make sense of that point?